29 years of recruiting. Still answering the phone.

I got into recruiting in 1997 — back when a Rolodex was a real object and every placement started with a phone call. I cold-called Fortune 500 hiring managers from an office in Connecticut and learned, quickly, that recruiting is not a database exercise. It's a conversation business.

In 2008, my wife and I relocated to the New Hampshire seacoast, and I founded Great Bay Staffing that same year.The banks were imploding, everyone said it was the worst possible time to start a firm, and I did it anyway — because I believed then (and still do) that there's always a market for someone who actually picks up the phone, knows the industry, and brings the right person to the table on time.

Since then I've placed hundreds of people across healthcare, manufacturing, engineering, IT and finance. I hit million-dollar sales marks at national firms before Great Bay. I am the current Healthcare Practice Group Lead at NPAworldwide. And in the last two years, I've gone deep on AI — not to replace the recruiter's job, but to finally give one person the tools to do the work of a team.

Here's what I've learned in 29 years: The best candidates usually aren't looking. They're doing their job. They need someone they trust to call them about something specific — not spammed by an auto-sequence, not screened by a chatbot, not funneled through an applicant tracking system. A real conversation, with someone who actually understands what they do.

That's what I still do. Every day. The technology changed. The core of the job didn't.

Outside of work, I'm a capable golfer (sometimes), a competent downhill skier, a black belt in Taekwondo, and a self-proclaimed Starbucks junkie. I love to travel, and my wife and I are currently restoring a lakehouse in Maine — one project at a time.